Chapter 1: Fake Ideal (2)

After a brief conversation, the princess left, and Tehis fell into deep contemplation.

Although she had put the proposal on hold, she didn’t fully trust the situation, so it had to be proven. Not just that they loved each other, but also that the woman was suitable to be the Grand Duchess.

‘But how?’

Recalling the princess’s voice, Tehis sighed and rang the bell beside his desk. At the sound of the soon-following knock, he told the person to come in, and a pale-faced Lisa appeared.

“Your Grace, I have something to tell you.”

“I would like you to contact that woman. I want to talk to her as soon as possible.”

When the topic of the unknown woman came up, the aide broke out in a cold sweat. Clasping her trembling hands and closing her eyes tightly, she looked like a condemned prisoner facing death.

“What’s the problem?”

“That… I’m sorry, Your Grace! Please kill me!”

Seeing Lisa bowing abruptly, Tehis felt that something was seriously wrong. But not knowing the reason, he asked again with patience.

“Why?”

“…The Information Guild just contacted me. The woman who was supposed to come had an accident this morning… and they canceled the contract.”

“What do you mean?”

Did they send another woman? Was there a problem with the contract?

The aide, with a devastated heart, hammered the final nail to her superior who couldn’t fully grasp the situation.

“That woman wasn’t from the Information Guild. She matched the requested appearance so perfectly that I was mistaken. Please kill me, Your Grace…”

Ding-.

A bell rang in Tehis’s head. The back of his head felt numb, like he had been hit hard with a hammer.

The act of being a lover was so natural that he naturally assumed she was the contracted woman, but she wasn’t.

‘…Then why did she help?’

His thoughts, which had momentarily stopped, moved to the information that had flowed to the woman.

From his unknown ideal type, through his relationship with the princess, to his current situation, everything had been exposed.

‘This is maddening.’

Tehis wiped his face with one hand.

What if she had deliberately attacked the Information Guild member to infiltrate? What if she was an agent of one of the numerous hostile forces? What if she was a spy planted by the Emperor?

…Various assumptions only brought more questions.

Given her skill to completely hide her presence, she was likely an assassin, but there were no calluses on the hands that had grabbed him, which was confusing. Instead of attacking, she had helped him.

The likelihood of her being a spy was also very low. There’s no way they would have carried out such a sloppy operation that would be discovered in a day if she wasn’t from the Information Guild.

So, she was simply a member of the faction opposing the union of the Imperial family and Escalante.

‘Is it Duke Fernand’s family?’

Tehis thought of the young duke who had been pestering the princess. Among the people who could hire such a rare skilled person, he couldn’t think of anyone else who would do such a thing.

As he was lost in deep thought, the aide, still bowing, stammered.

“I’m really, really sorry…! I’ll find out who she is as soon as possible.”

Tehis sighed, not expecting such a mistake from her, who was usually competent. He didn’t want to punish her for an action that was genuinely meant for him, even beyond being a talented individual or the wife of the knight commander.

Lisa was one of his few people.

‘Moreover, it was helpful in the end.’

The Grand Duke recalled the orange eyes of the woman he had faced up close. If it weren’t for her, he would have been forced to marry the princess. He waved his hand.

“Instead of wasting time here, go out and find her. It’s urgent.”

“Yes, Your Grace! I will find out discreetly and quickly.”

Tehis watched the door close heavily behind Lisa, who left in a hurry. He recalled the princess who had entered through that door and the woman who had left without a trace.

Then, what filled his mind was the bold action of the woman who had made a kissing sound right in front of his lips.

An outsider who dared to imitate a kiss with ‘that Grand Duke Escalante’.

“…”

Tehis touched his dry lips.

He didn’t know who she was, but one thing was certain: she was excessively bold.

* * *

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Chloe, who had returned to the Mage Tower through a warp gate right after leaving the Grand Duke’s residence, was agonizing.

Not only did she fail to achieve the purpose of today’s outing, but she also impulsively caused trouble and was deeply regretful.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have worn a robe.’

She had dressed plainly for the first time in a while, following advice that it would be better to be formal when requesting support. She should have noticed something was wrong when the guards let her in as soon as she arrived at the Grand Duke’s residence.

In retrospect, it didn’t make sense for them to open the door without confirming her identity. It would be difficult to distinguish her just by her voice, which they heard only once a year.

‘I thought they were naturally treating me as a guest from the Mage Tower.’

She had headed to the Grand Duke’s residence after completing the annual warp gate inspection. Every year around this time, she went there with an invoice and received the necessary materials, so she thought they had guessed her identity.

‘How could I have known they mistook me for someone else?’

Chloe groaned. She had unintentionally learned about the Grand Duke’s ideal type.

More precisely, she learned that she was his ideal type.

“…Does this make any sense?”

Muttering to herself, she touched her cheek with a strange expression.

‘That Grand Duke Escalante’s’ ideal type is me?

Chloe shook her head. It was clear that he had made an excuse to reject the princess.

‘Princess Helena…’

Even though mages are not interested in the outside world, they are not so out of touch that they wouldn’t know about the Imperial family of the Empire. Especially the most noble woman on the continent.

She was said to be the daughter the Emperor had late, after seeing three consecutive princes.

It was said that she was raised with endless love, without getting involved in power struggles, because there was already a perfect Crown Prince. Even the princes with different mothers cherished her, according to the rumors that reached the Mage Tower.

She had perfect beauty and charisma, as they said, but…

‘She was arrogant.’

Breaking into the study without permission, speaking informally to the Grand Duke, announcing a forced marriage, and defining people as she pleased—how could she not be?

Chloe recalled the event at the Grand Duke’s residence, where she had been very taken aback.

She had wrestled with the maids in the dressing room, caught up in the situation, over whether to take off her clothes or not. They didn’t seem to listen to her at all, so she decided to change first and then talk directly to the Grand Duke. She refused the corset and took the dress to change alone when everyone retreated at his command to leave.

Except for her, who had stopped awkwardly while changing.

She thought it was rather fortunate. She planned to sneak out quietly, pretending she hadn’t heard anything, and return as a mage. So, she cast a stealth and invisibility spell.

She didn’t know how good Grand Duke Escalante’s sense was, so she carefully observed the situation in the study with a reconnaissance spell.

She swore she didn’t intend to witness the tired face of the Grand Duke looking out the window.

Nor did she intend to see him sighing while touching the window, being ignored by the princess, or having the emotion of love denied.

She never intended to see him lower his eyes in despair, unable to open his mouth, as if acknowledging the princess’s words.

‘And I certainly didn’t mean to cause trouble.’

Chloe clicked her tongue. She didn’t like the princess’s attitude, as if no one would love that man. She was even more annoyed by the Grand Duke’s acceptance of it with resignation.

Why? Why on earth?

Why did the princess say such things, and why did the Grand Duke accept them?

The unpleasant memory made her boil with anger. That’s why she stepped out of the dressing room, disguising her skin with a simple illusion spell.

To shout that there was someone here, right now, whom they claimed didn’t exist.

Acting affectionately, pretending to be in love, she came out.

‘…Though I might have gone too far because the Grand Duke’s reaction was a bit cute.’

Thinking about it now, it was a reckless action. She had no intention of becoming the Grand Duchess, just playing the role of a lover for a moment.

Chloe opened her wardrobe with a troubled face. The dress she was wearing felt uncomfortable, so she quickly changed.

Wearing a light slip and a long robe as usual, she hung the dress provided by the Grand Duke’s residence in the wardrobe. The high-quality fabric dress stood out among the plain clothes.

‘Should I return it? I don’t want to go back there.’

Her mind was busy. There were many other things to resolve.

How to get paid for the warp gate inspection? Should she ask someone else? What about the research sponsorship she originally intended to request?

‘What about the materials I sent off the day before yesterday…?’

Sighing, she slumped onto the sofa. Leaning back, she cooled her forehead with one arm.

The progress of her research, which she had been working on for years, was slower than expected, which was frustrating. The problem was that procuring materials was difficult.

It was daunting to think about how long it would take to get the mandrake root and wyvern blood she used up in the last experiment. She had already used up the material exchange vouchers allocated for this year, and it was a big problem that the rare materials she needed were depleted.

‘That’s why I went to the Grand Duke…’

It was extremely rare for a mage to receive support from a continental person. The Mage Tower usually took care of most things, and there was a great risk of losing personal research time.

It was better to take one-time commissions and get the necessary materials each time. It was generally considered a loss to get entangled with wealthy people.

That is, unless they were doing something as enormous as her early promotion.

‘Was it too reckless of a challenge?’

The thesis topic, the sponsorship… Chloe was running her hand through her hair irritably when she heard a knock.

Knock, knock.

“Chloe, are you in there?”

“Come in, Riel.”

Chloe waved her hand at the familiar voice. The spell cast without incantation seeped into the door, and with a click, the lock was released.

A woman in a white robe entered through the softly opening door.

“How did it go?”

“It was a disaster…”

As the owner of the room sighed deeply, Riel, who sat next to her, tilted her head.

“Why?”